Swirls of Color
by thewindinthemeadow
Summary: Michael, Lucifer, Sam, Adam, AU Michael, and Gabriel all wake up locked in a house they don't recognize. They have to learn to live together, functioning as a family. Confusion, angst, fluff, and drama ensue. Set shortly after Season 13.
1. Beginnings

**This just happened. I'm not sure how or why, exactly. My brain does strange things sometimes. I have no idea if I'm going to add to this or not, so... I hope you like it? The T rating is basically just for language. The characters wanted to swear, or it probably could've been K+. Review or follow or whatever if you want to encourage me to write more.**

Gabriel had worked so hard, and now it was all for nothing. He'd been terrified of AU Michael, but he was the only option so Gabriel had gone to find him. And it had worked. He'd used his adorable-baby-brother-with-gold-doe-eyes powers to persuade Michael to pretend to kill him to get him back in witness protection. There was no way for Gabriel to say no to Sam, he wasn't that powerful, so the only way was to convince Sam that he was dead. But then something had gone wrong, because he'd just woken up in a weird room who-knows-where with Sam, Adam, Lucifer, and both Michaels. Ugh, he needed a way to think about those two separately. OK, so he'd call AU Michael Mike, and the Michael from his universe would be Micha. Was that still confusing? Oh, well. It was worth a shot. He'd change it later if he couldn't get it to stick.

Gabriel wondered when anybody was gonna wake up. This was getting boring. Maybe he should run off before Sam could see he was alive and realize he'd faked his death again. Or Lucifer might wake up and kill him again. He swallowed nervously. He hated thinking about how his own big brother had been all perfectly casual about killing him. It was horrid. He wanted the old Lucifer back, the one who'd cared about him and would've died for him.

Lucifer was the next person to wake up. Gabriel backpedaled to the other side of the room, flinching and watching Lucifer cautiously. The last time he'd been stuck being around Lucifer there'd been a concrete reason for Lucifer not to hurt him. Now they were alone and Lucifer had no reason to leave Gabriel alone. Lucifer sat up and looked around, seemingly confused.

"I was dead," he said.

Gabriel watched him, wide eyed. He decided being silent was a good idea. Maybe Lucifer wouldn't notice him.

"Gabriel," Lucifer said, getting up and approaching him, "my little brother." His voice was cold, with an edge of mockery.

Gabriel scanned the room for exits. Lucifer could probably catch him before he reached the only door in the windowless room. Crap.

"Are you scared?" Lucifer asked, "You always were a coward."

"I'm _not_ a coward," Gabriel snapped, frustrated.

"Oh, no, of course not," Lucifer said, "You just run whenever anything scares you. That's not cowardly at all. You, Gabriel, are nothing more than a petulant, scared child."

Gabriel couldn't come up with a proper argument against that one, so he maturely stuck his tongue out at Lucifer.

"You're trying to prove my point, aren't you," Lucifer said, grinning evilly, "Cuz you are really not helping your cause, bro."

"I'm childish," Gabriel said, "Sue me."

"Well, Sammy's here, and he's a lawyer," Lucifer noted helpfully, "I can sue you if that's what you really want." He approached Gabriel, getting close enough to pin him against the wall.

Gabriel slapped Lucifer in the face. "Get away from me."

Lucifer laughed. "Ah, no, not happening," he said, "Why would I do anything you want?"

"Because we're brothers, Lucifer," Gabriel said, "That's supposed to matter to you."

"You let me get thrown in the Cage for millennia," Lucifer accused, "and you helped the Winchesters throw me back in once I finally escaped. We're not brothers anymore, Gabriel. Not in any way that matters."

Gabriel stared at Lucifer miserably for a moment. "Fine," he said, "Let me go."

"No." Lucifer scowled at Gabriel. "You'll pay for what you've done."

"Who's paying for what?" a new voice asked. Home Universe Michael (Micha) had woken up. He was sitting up and rubbing his eyes, looking confused.

"Oh, no," Lucifer said. He let go of Gabriel and turned to face Micha.

"Oo, are we out of the Cage?" Micha asked with childish delight, "Yay! It'll be so much more fun now!"

Gabriel stared at Micha. "What happened to him?"

"The Cage made him go nuts," Lucifer replied, "He's- it's creepy."

"Nuts?" Micha asked hopefully, "I like nuts. Except for cashews. They taste nasty."

Lucifer sighed. "No, kiddo. We don't have any nuts. There's no kitchen here."

Micha started crying.

"Oh, come on, Luce," Gabriel said, irritated, "You haven't even checked."

"Well, if you want to humor that- _kid_ , then you can find him his nuts," Lucifer said, "I'm staying out of it."

Gabriel rolled his eyes at Lucifer. He knelt beside Micha. "It's ok, Micha," he said gently, "We'll find you some nuts, ok? Just ignore Luci. He's a big meanie."

"I'm not a-" Lucifer began angrily before cutting himself off. He glowered at Gabriel.

Micha ran over and hugged Lucifer. "Don't worry, Lucifer," he said, "We'll still love you even if you are a big meanie." He giggled.

Lucifer looked terrorized and baffled. He cautiously patted Micha's head, looking at him like he was a bomb that could explode at any moment. Gabriel couldn't help laughing at Luci's expression. Lucifer gave him a betrayed look that just made Gabriel laugh more.

"What's funny?" Micha asked cheerfully.

"Luce's face," Gabriel laughed.

Micha looked up at Lucifer. He reached up and tapped Lucifer's nose before exploding into giggles. Lucifer looked like he was being tortured. The noise of Gabriel and Micha's combined laughter woke up Sam. He looked around, confused. He tensed when he saw Lucifer, but his face lit up when he saw that Gabriel was alive. There was no recognition when his eyes lit on Micha. Sam turned to where AU Michael lay asleep wearing Dean's body.

"Dean?" Sam asked, desperate hope in his voice.

Gabriel shook his head. "Sorry, Samsquatch," he said, "that's AU Mike, not Dean-o."

Sam sighed. "Figures. And Lucifer's back, so Dean got possessed for nothing."

"Well, thanks," Lucifer snarked, "You obviously appreciate my right to live a ton."

"And who's he?" Sam asked, motioning to Micha.

"I'm Micha," Micha said happily, "I remember you. You're the guy who let Luci out of the Cage by killing the mean girl. You're Sam, right?"

"Yeah," Sam said slowly.

"The Cage didn't agree with Michael," Lucifer said, "his behavior is childish, random, and utterly bizarre."

"It's not that bad," Micha said, crossing his arms, "I just act like a kid now, which is fine cuz my vessel's somehow a kid version of John Winchester."

"So, the archangel Michael is a small child, and we're all somehow trapped in a room that we have no idea how we got to in the first place," Sam said.

"Exactly," Micha said, "Great summary. Can we eat nuts now?"

"He's still on about that," Lucifer groaned.

Micha giggled, seemingly very happy that he'd annoyed Lucifer. "Nuts, nuts, nuts!" he cheered, jumping up and down on the spot.

"We really should explore," Gabriel said, looking around the room excitedly, "We don't know anything about this place."

"Yeah, there needs to be a way out," Lucifer said, "I am _not_ staying here with you idiots. I'll get out if it's the last thing I do."

"Live a little, Luce," Gabriel said, "Try having fun instead of going all take over the universe."

"I _will_ remake the universe in my image," Lucifer snapped, "Now that I've taken in the Nephilim grace, it's only a matter of time."

"Don't be a dumbass, Luc," Micha said, "That's naughty. You're not s'posed to try stuff like that, and Daddy would never let you anyway."

Lucifer stuck his tongue out at Micha, who giggled. "It's forked!" Micha squeaked, "That's so cool!"

Lucifer groaned. "There's no discouraging him," he whined. He glared at Micha, who giggled a little nervously and ducked his head. "I hate you," Lucifer told Micha, trying to upset him, "You're a spineless pushover who abandoned me and who couldn't even handle a couple years in the Cage without going insane. You're pathetic, and I don't care two cents about you."

Micha stared at Lucifer, eyes wide with horror. And then he burst into tears.

"Lucifer, what've you done?" Gabriel demanded, "You jerk!"

"Well, it's not my fault he's a big baby," Lucifer snapped. He looked guilty, though. "Don't look at me like that," he said crossly, "I'm not supposed to be nice, and I don't care if he cries!" He didn't convince anyone, but he was loud enough to wake AU Mike up.

"What's going on here?" Mike demanded.

"Luci's mean!" Micha sobbed incoherently.

Mike stared at Micha. "Is that- that's not supposed to be me, right?" He sounded horrified.

"Yup," Lucifer said cheerfully, "that's you, the grand prince of heaven, reduced to your usual state. Isn't it awe inspiring?"

"Don't you dare mouth off to me," Mike said, glaring at Lucifer and stalking towards him. They got ready to fight.

"Oh, no," Gabriel said miserably, "Not again. This is exactly why I ran away in the first place."

"Are you guys gonna fight the apocalypse?" Micha asked worriedly, "cuz that's mean. You should just be nice."

Mike and Lucifer ignored Gabriel and Micha. Micha started crying again and ran to hide behind Adam, who was still asleep. Gabriel slowly retreated to the corner. Sam followed him, worried.

"Gabe? Are you ok?"

Gabriel looked up at Sam. He was shaking, and he tried to use Sam's eyes to ground himself, but it wasn't working, and Mike and Luce were fighting the apocalypse and they might kill each other and everything was awful and he couldn't think straight but at least Sam was there so it might be horrible but it couldn't be that bad, but what if Sam left and then it was even worse and what if Asmodeus wasn't really dead and came back and Gabriel couldn't breathe and his throat was burning and his head was spinning- and Sam's hands were on his shoulders, grounding him.

"Gabriel, breathe," Sam pleaded.

Gabriel gasped in a shaky breath. After that breathing was easier, and he was able to remember that Asmodeus was definitely dead and Sam was there to stay. Even with Mike and Lucifer fighting the apocalypse it could be a lot worse.

Sam pulled Gabriel down to sit on the floor. "Are you ok?" he asked.

Gabriel shook his head. "I'll survive." His voice was quiet, weak. He felt pathetic and stupid.

Luce launched himself at Mike and they slammed loudly into the floor. Gabriel flinched at the noise, crying out. He hid his face in Sam's shoulder so he wouldn't have to watch. He couldn't stand watching his siblings tear each other apart. It was the worst thing he'd ever experienced.

Micha couldn't stop crying. Mike and Luci were being mean and confusing, and he really wanted them to stop beating each other up and be nice. And Adam was still asleep, and Micha was realizing that a sleeping human wasn't the best hiding place. But he couldn't move, because then he'd be exposed out in the open and Mike or Luci might scowl at him. Micha flinched as Mike punched Luc in the jaw. He squeaked fearfully and accidentally woke up Adam, who sat up and looked around, confused like they'd all been upon first waking.

"Michael?" Adam asked, "What's wrong?" He pulled the little archangel into his lap and ran his fingers through Micha's tangled black hair.

"Nothing," Micha sniffled unconvincingly.

"Mike and Lucifer fighting's upsetting you, huh?" Adam asked.

"How'd you know that?" Micha demanded, "Humans can't mind read."

"It's just body language," Adam said, "Do you want me to make Mike and Luc stop fighting?"

"You can do that?" Micha asked hopefully.

"Yup," Adam said confidently.

Micha nodded eagerly. "Do it!"

Adam set Micha down and looked around the room for useful objects. The bucket of soapy water in the corner could not have been more convenient. Luc and Mike were rolling around on the floor. Luc was trying to tear Mike's hair out, and Mike was repeatedly slapping Luc in the face. They were both yelling a lot and kicking at each other. Adam marched over to them and emptied the bucket of soapy water onto their heads. They broke apart, gasping and baffled.

"Quit it," Adam snapped, "You're scaring your little brothers. Behave."

Luc sat up first. He looked more than a little ashamed of himself. "Sorry, Adam," he said.

"Don't apologize to me," Adam said sternly, "Apologize to Micha and Gabe. They're the ones you two morons hurt with your stupid fight."

Lucifer slumped off to apologize to Micha and Gabriel.

Mike stayed where he was, arms crossed in front of him. "I'm not apologizing because a _mortal_ ordered me to," he said crossly.

Adam shrugged. "Be a dickhead if you want." He left to check on Micha.

Mike was left sitting on the floor in a puddle of soapy water, pouting like a toddler and trying to pretend he didn't feel ridiculous.

Lucifer stood three feet away from where Gabriel was cuddled into Sam's side. He was partially facing Gabe and refusing to look at him.

"What is it?" Sam asked.

Lucifer crossed his arms defensively. "I didn't do anything," he said.

"That's your idea of an apology?" Gabriel asked. He groaned. "It's a disaster, Lu."

"Fine," Lucifer snapped angrily, "I'm _sorry_ I scared you by trying to murder that evil noodle head. It was completely inexcusable and I'm sure I'll do it again next chance I get." Lucifer managed to make the whole apology sound like an insult.

" _Great_ apology," Gabriel snarked, "A real award winner, Luce. You'd almost think you really meant it."

Lucifer growled low in his throat and stormed off.

Gabriel's façade fell away as soon as Sam was the only person immediately there. "He's such a mess," Gabriel wailed, "I just want my brother back. Why can't he- I dunno- _be my brother_?"

Lucifer stormed over to Adam and Micha to 'apologize' as well as he could stomach. Little Micha was adorable enough that some of his anger bled away, but he still didn't want to actually say anything nice in his apology. He was the devil, after all; he had a reputation to keep up. Micha looked happy, but there were tear tracks on his cheeks and his eyes were reddened. His mood swung so easily in this state that he could go from glowingly happy to sobbing and back in two minutes. Lucifer had no idea how to handle that.

"Hi, Micha," he said.

"Luci!" Micha squeaked happily, smiling up at his brother.

Lucifer groaned. "Don't be all cheerful. It's weird."

"Don't be sad, Luce," Micha said, "Today's nice. We get to live in a cool house and explore it and there aren't any mean bars!"

"You have low standards," Lucifer complained, "I want to rule the universe, not live in wherever this is."

"But ruling the universe is Daddy's job," Micha argued, "We're just s'posed to- I've got no idea."

"That's not very helpful, kiddo," Lucifer said, "but I'm sure we'll figure it out, ok? Don't worry too much. I think we're stuck here anyway, so-" Luc heaved an overdramatic sigh and shrugged.

Micha giggled.


	2. Explorations

"I think we should explore this place," Sam said.

"Yeah, great idea!" Gabriel enthused, "It'll be so much fun. Maybe there'll be candy!"

"Candy?" Micha asked hopefully, "I like candy."

"Do you ever think about anything besides sweets?" Lucifer asked Gabriel, "It's getting old."

"I have the right to think about sweets as often as I like," Gabriel said, "and you can go screw yourself."

"Don't swear in front of the kid," Sam pleaded.

"Don't worry," Micha said, "I know plenty of naughty words already."

"That doesn't make it better," Sam said.

"Ah, don't worry your pretty head over it, Sam-a-lam," Gabriel said casually, "He'll have to hear everything sometime. And technically he's the oldest of us all, 'cept grumpy over there." He pointed to Mike, who was sitting in the corner ignoring everybody.

"Maybe I should go talk to him," Lucifer commented hopefully, "He needs to learn to handle social interaction."

"You just want to start another fight," Adam said accusingly, "No."

Lucifer scowled at Adam.

"Can we go exploring?" Micha pleaded, grabbing Sam's hand and pulling him towards the door. He used normal child strength, so Sam didn't move.

"Yeah," Gabriel agreed, "We _need_ to go exploring. Angels die within half an hour if they don't get to explore somewhere new. It's an emergency!"

"I call bullshit," Lucifer noted.

"Aw, c'mon, Luce," Gabriel whined, "We need to make sure there's nothing dangerous here! And find candy."

Micha yawned. "Yeah," he said, "we need to- go-exploring."

"Micha's tired," Sam said, "Maybe we should do this later."

"I'm not tired," Micha argued crossly.

"There's nowhere to sleep here anyway," Adam noted, "We should split up. Look for exits or information on where we are, and Sam can find a bed or at least a couch for Micha."

"That's a terrible idea," Lucifer argued.

"I don't hear you coming up with a better one," Adam threw back.

"Just because I didn't tell _you_ doesn't mean I don't have a perfectly good plan-"

"Come on, Luce," Adam said, grabbing Lucifer's shoulder and tugging him towards the door.

"Hey, you can't drag me places," Luc whined as he followed Adam out of the room.

Sam looked between little Micha who was whining and looked miserable and exhausted, and Mike who was glowering ominously in the corner. "Gabriel, can you stay with him?" Sam asked, motioning towards Mike.

"So, if I can drag him to the candy-"

"Sure, Gabe," Sam said, "Just keep an eye on him."

"Can do," Gabriel said.

"Thanks," Sam said earnestly. He picked Micha up and carried him out of the room.

"I don't wanna be carried," Micha whined, "Put me down! You're mean."

"OK," Sam said patiently. He kept carrying Micha, who fell asleep in Sam's arms four steps later.

Sam found a corridor lined with doors. He was drawn to one two down on the left. There was nothing special about it, but it just- felt right. He couldn't explain it. He pulled the door open to reveal a simple bedroom. The furnishings were small and basic with cold colors and lightly finished wood. Sam tucked Micha into the bed and left.

Back in the room where they'd woken up, Gabriel sat down hesitantly next to Mike. "Hi."

"Greetings are kind of pointless," Mike said.

Gabriel shrugged. "They're good for starting conversations. You know, like when you want to talk to someone."

Mike rolled his eyes. "Like you actually want to talk to me. Look, why don't you go find your candy, and I'll promise not to blow anything up while you're gone."

"I want you to come with me," Gabriel said.

"Why?"

"Because you're my brother," Gabriel said, "isn't that reason enough?"

"We're from different universes," Mike argued.

"Yeah, but they didn't branch off till long after we'd been brothers for billennia, or whatever the step up from millennia is."

"Billennia? Really?" Mike asked.

Gabriel shrugged. "It sounds cool. Billennia. It should be a song title."

"Don't you _dare_ start singing," Mike said threateningly.

"Well, since you brought it up-" Gabriel grinned maniacally.

"No," Mike said.

Gabriel started singing. Michael covered his ears with his hands, but Gabriel was too loud and it didn't help much. Mike's ears were unfortunately highly sensitive. It was a normal archangel thing, but now he really wished he had dull human hearing. He started screaming to avoid having to listen, and that worked better. Gabriel gave up after a moment. Luckily he didn't have much patience when he was being mostly ignored.

Mike glowered at Gabriel.

Gabriel shrugged innocently.

Mike groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Let's go look for candy!" Gabriel enthused.

"Why?" Mike asked crossly.

"Cuz I'm your little brother," Gabriel pleaded. "You're s'posed to help me find candy." He tried out his puppy eyes.

Mike patted his head. "Go look by yourself."

Gabriel sniffled. "But Mikey-" Full power puppy eyes time. He let his lips tremble a bit and his eyes teared up. If this didn't work, nothing would, and that would mean that Mike's heart was made of stone and completely unshakable.

"Manipulative little brat," Mike whined, "Fine. I'll help you look for candy for five minutes, and five minutes only. It's a one time deal."

"Yay!" Gabriel yelled. He launched himself into Mike's arms. "You're the best big brother _ever_."

"I think that's a bit of an overstatement," Mike tried weakly.

Gabriel shook his head. Needless to say, Mike helped Gabriel look for candy for a lot longer than five minutes. It was three hours before Adam found Gabriel curled up asleep on the couch with lots of candy wrappers next to him. Mike was sitting on the ground next to him reading a book on recent history to catch up with the changes from his universe to this one. They were both smiling.

Lucifer followed Adam into the room, sitting down in an armchair and relaxing like he thought he was a king. Adam was trying to start a fire in the fireplace. It took him a while, but he finally managed it. The fire was roaring happily when Sam came in.

"So, are we having an official council now or something?" Lucifer asked.

Adam just shrugged. Mike didn't even look up from his book.

"Am I the only person who cares that we're trapped with no idea who brought us here?" Lucifer demanded, "We should be trying to escape or find out who did it or _something_."

Sam shrugged. "There's no way to figure it out and no way to escape."

"Ugh, I hate apathetic dumbasses," Luce whined.

"It's not bad here," Adam commented, "and a bunch of you idiots would be trying to take over the world if we went back. Maybe it's better to stay here and roll with it. Call it a vacation if it'll make you feel better."

"A vacation?" Mike sounded confused.

"Mike doesn't know what that means, cuz he's a moron and 'Father never ordered it', so he's never taken a break," Lucifer threw in helpfully, "It's probably how the stick got shoved so far up his ass."

"That's it," Mike snapped, getting up and stalking towards Lucifer.

"Wait," Sam said, "Can we not have another apocalypse? It didn't even work last time."

"That was last time," Lucifer said, "This time I'm gonna win."

"No, you're not," Mike snapped condescendingly.

"Oh, yes, I am," Lucifer retorted.

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"Oh, will you two quit it?" Adam asked.

Mike and Luci stared at him. After a moment Lucifer shrugged. "There's no point fighting here anyway," he said, "We're stuck, so I can't take over the universe and you can't either."

"At least _I_ would've ruled the universe properly if I'd managed to take over," Mike snapped, "All _you_ did was sit in the throne room and demand the angels find your half-breed spawn."

"Hey, don't insult my kid!" Lucifer yelled, "He's a great kid. Lots of potential."

"I don't think he likes you much anymore," Mike commented, almost airily, "You did suck out all his grace, after all."

"Well, he doesn't like you any better," Lucifer retorted.

" _What?"_ Mike asked, "Why would I care?"

"Argh," Lucifer complained, "For the sake of the argument, pretend you care!"

"I won't!"

"You're a dick!" Lucifer yelled.

"At least I'm not a whiny little _bitch_ like you," Mike snapped.

"Cut it out!" Sam yelled.

Two archangels glared silently at him.

"If you two could stop fighting for half a second, maybe we could find a way out of this house," Sam said, trying to sound reasonable and not panic about the fact that two archangels were glowering murderously at him.

Lucifer scowl lightened. "Always knew there was a reason I liked you, roomie," he said, "You've got spunk, for a petty little human."

Sam's teeth clenched at the reminder of his time in the Cage, but he kept his cool.

"There's no way out," Adam cut in.

Sam rubbed his forehead tiredly. "What did you find?"

"There's a wall around the property," Adam said, "It's unscalable."

"I couldn't fly through it or over it, either," Lucifer whined, "It's dumb."

"So, whoever trapped us here has enough power to stop an archangel," Sam said, "At least that narrows down the possibilities."

"What did the energy feel like?" Mike asked, "You must've felt something."

"I-" Lucifer paused. "It's not possible. I must've been mistaken."

Mike's eyes narrowed. "What was it?" he asked harshly.

Lucifer scowled mutinously at the floor.

"Luce, spill," Mike ordered, "now."

"Go feel it for yourself," Lucifer grumbled.

"Fine," Mike growled angrily. He vanished. About ten seconds later he was back, and he looked massively baffled.

"Yeesh, what did you feel?" Adam asked.

"It's- impossible," Mike said.

"See?! I _told_ you," Lucifer snapped.

"What is it?" Sam asked.

"The wall is made of our energy," Lucifer said. "Mine and Micha's and Gabriel's and Mike's, all bound together and- deliberately working together. It's impossible."

"And it's powered with your souls," Mike said, "but none of us is feeling the effects of that drain. We should be weak and exhausted, if it was even possible for all our powers to work together in such a fashion."

"Which it's _not_ ," Lucifer insisted.

"I felt the wall." Gabriel's voice was small and tired; he'd just woken up a little. "I like it. It feels like home used to."

Nobody knew quite how to respond to that.


	3. A Scared Kid and a Kitten

Micha wasn't sure what to do. He was sitting on a bed in an empty room, and since nobody was there it was scary. He didn't like being alone. He knew he could get up and look for someone, but he was scared something bad would happen if he moved. He didn't dare move a muscle because he was sure that would be when the monster would pounce. As long as he didn't move nothing would happen. He was kinda almost safe, but not really. It was terrifying.

Even Micha's breaths were shallow, because he was so sure the monster would attack if he moved. He wasn't sure why he knew there was a monster in the room. He was just _sure_ that there was. He guessed it was under the bed, looking at his feet that were just dangling down in front of it. He wished he was still hidden under the blankets. Why had he ever gotten up? This was awful.

Little Micha imagined a clawed, skeletal hand reaching out slowly from under the bed and catching hold of his ankle. For a moment, he was sure he felt the brush of a cold hand against his foot. It was too much. Micha screamed in terror and ran. The drop from the bed to the ground caught him off guard with how far it was, and he fell, managing to bash his lip against the bed frame. He scrambled to his feet and ran to the door.

He was panicking badly enough that he couldn't turn the knob correctly to open the door. He was sure the monster was sneaking up behind him, and he whirled around, cowering back against the door. The room was empty. His wild heartbeat slowed for a moment, but then he saw something move under his bed. Micha screamed again. He yanked the door open and ran out of the room.

Micha crashed into Lucifer in the hallway. He wrapped his arms around his brother and promptly burst into tears. Lucifer looked confused. He cautiously patted Micha on the head.

"It's- ok?" Lucifer said awkwardly. He scooped Micha into his arms.

"Luci, there's a monster under the bed and it grabbed my leg!" Micha sobbed, "It was really scary and creepy and I thought it was gonna eat me!"

"Oh," Lucifer said, "That's bad. Could you tell what kind of monster it was?"

Micha shook his head. "I didn't see it."

"How did you know it was there?" Lucifer asked.

Micha shrugged. "It just- felt like it was there."

"Let's go find it," Lucifer suggested.

Micha shook his head. "Nuh-uh. It'll _eat_ us!"

"I'm the devil," Lucifer deadpanned, "I don't think some low level monster's gonna eat me."

"B-but it might bite me," Micha protested, "and it might glide outta the walls and growl at us."

"Micha," Lucifer asked seriously, "you know what we're gonna do if it glides out of the walls and growls at us?"

Micha shook his head, wide eyed. "What?"

"We're gonna growl right back and be so scary it runs away, k?"

Micha nodded. "And- what if there's more than one?"

"We'll growl at the other ones, too," Lucifer said, "We're archangels, little one. We can beat normal monsters any day."

"OK!" Micha cheered, "Let's go growl and scare the monster under my bed!"

Lucifer smiled fondly down at his once older brother. "Yes, let's," he said.

Micha got a little nervous when they were actually back in his room, but Luci was there to fight the monster so he wasn't too nervous. They couldn't find the monster and there was nothing under Micha's bed.

"It heard us coming and ran off," Lucifer said proudly, "Great job, kiddo. You scared your first monster."

Micha smiled and tackled Lucifer in a hug. "We did it. Thanks, Luci."

If Lucifer's smile was a little choked, it was just because he'd never thought Michael would say anything so nice to him ever again. He was somehow getting a second chance. He swore to himself that where Micha was concerned, at least, he would make sure not to screw this one up. He had his brother back. Micha was free of any such weighty considerations.

"Luci, can I get a kitten to scare the monsters away when you aren't around?" Micha looked up at Lucifer with pleading blue doe eyes.

And how was Lucifer supposed to say no to that face?

"If you can find a kitten, you can keep it," Lucifer promised, "I think dogs are typically used as guards, not cats, but-" he shrugged.

"Yay! I get a kitten!" Micha ran off to find a kitten. It was harder than he had anticipated. There just weren't any kittens to be found. He looked through _millions_ of rooms (it was actually four, but it felt like millions), and there were no kittens anywhere.

Gabriel was sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace, counting a massive pile of jolly ranchers. He curled his arms protectively around them when Micha approached.

"Have you seen any kittens?" Micha asked hopefully.

Gabriel shook his head. "It's just humans and angels here as far as I can tell," he said, "No animals of any kind."

Micha looked heartbroken. "So I won't find a kitten?" he asked miserably.

"Why d'you want a kitten?" Gabriel asked.

"Luci promised I could keep it if I found one," Micha explained, "and I really, really, _really_ want a kitty."

Gabriel grinned. "Hold him to that promise," he said, hurrying from the room.

Micha was a little confused, but if he got a kitten out of the deal it would be awesome. He sat down in front of the fireplace and ate a jolly rancher.

Gabriel ran back into the room two minutes later, holding a furious kitten who was desperately trying to escape. The fluffy white kitten left deep, nasty scratches on Gabriel's arms that didn't immediately heal.

"Kitty!" Micha cried happily, holding out his little arms for the flailing kitten.

Gabriel grinned maniacally through the pain from the scratches. He dropped the kitten onto Micha's lap. "And Lucifer promised you could keep a kitten if you could find one. You found one."

Micha grinned and hugged his new pet. The kitten hissed at Gabriel but purred for Micha.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" Micha asked.

"A boy," Gabriel said cheerfully, "His name's Lulu."

Lulu glared balefully at Gabriel with ice blue eyes that held more intelligence than was normal for a cat. They flashed red for an instant, and Gabriel's pile of jolly ranchers vanished. Lulu looked smug. Gabriel was horrified. "My candy!" he wailed, "Lucifer, you jerk!"

Lulu started washing his paw while Micha cooed at him.

 **I don't know how much actual plotline this is going to have. You can probably skip chapters you don't like and not miss much, honestly. I do have an overarching plotline planned, but only some chapters will tie in at all until I get close to the end. I'm writing this entirely because I feel like it, not because it has any value.**


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